Continuing the Journey

 

These tiles have been glazed & Raku fired and are finished. However, as you can see I unfortunately lost the very essence of what I was trying to capture. All the depth, contrast, & texture has been changed into something that is flat, blends in, and glossed over. It all comes down to the unpredictability of the chemical & physical changes that can happen while glaze firing. I was extremely excited about this project & realized half way through that this would be a long term commitment. I was once told by life changing mentor that "one shouldn't  be married to their idea" but in this case I feel as though the commitment I am making to the clay is necessary to discover the most effective way of translating my concept. In other words I am on to project #3 but I am not giving up on the possibilities of this past project. Today I went into the studio and made 7 more tiles. We'll see how they turn out. 

Adv Drawing Proposal 3

            For project number Three I would like to continue exploring the relationship between 2-D drawings and 3-D surfaces or objects. I would like to reuse the clay medium but employing a different technique called slip trailing appliqué. I will draw with slip (liquid clay) and transfer the images onto a slab then transferring the appliqués onto my object. I would also like to continue using the symbols I am currently working with which are birds, hands, & feathers. The idea will be to portray the image of something survived, something accepted. Being free versus being caged. 

Underglaze Pencils, Crayons, Pens, & Trailers

This is a clay plate with a drawing done in clay underglaze pencils! I didn't realize this kind of detail was possible. This is what I had imagined all along. Just thought I'd share this awesome find with you.

Positive Outcomes

A close up of the positive of my carving block

Here is the carving block bisque fired (on right) & the positive of the carving (on left). Eventually my positives will be bisqued & glazed. One mishap was that the upper right of my carving block broke when I was pressing it into the wet clay. However, when I saw the marks left in the wet clay I became really excited of the result and am confident  in my choice to accept the mistake.     

Print in Clay

From this angle it is easy to see the drawing as 2 dimensional...

Clearly, this perspective shows the amount of depth within the drawing.
Can a drawing be 3 dimensional? 

The first step not shown here is the actual drawing. I then went on to step two which was the transfer of the drawing into the clay. The photos above are of the third step in this eight step process; carving. I have found myself to be using my carving tools as one would use a drawing medium such as a pen, pencil, or charcoal. I am carving deeper into areas of more dimension as one would build up using charcoal for example. I am also, creating raised surfaces which represent different line qualities that will define the finished work. 

Drawing Conclusions

To answer what drawing is to me would only be to invite further questions. I would have to first consider is drawing an act… an idea… or perhaps just evidence? Taking these questions into consideration allows me to determine that drawing is conceptual in nature. To me drawing is any intentional mark made to communicate. Although I must realize that what drawing is to me is not necessarily what “drawing is.” The interpretation of what a drawing is is only certain to the viewer at that given time depending upon their own personal culture.